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I am trying to record a very simple demo with my laptop mic onto Audacity. I've used this same setup on other laptops with no problem. However when I attempt this on my current PC, I get this intense "phasing" effect. I haven't messed with the default Audacity settings. I have no idea why this is happening, let alone where to begin troubleshooting. Any help would be appreciated!

Here is the sample: http://soundcloud.com/jakeparis/let-all-mortal-just-a-test/s-0dfUy

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  • Not quite the same situation, but I used to get the exact same sound with a Tascam casette portastudio, and I never figured out how to get rid of it. Would love to hear the answer to this.
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Commented Nov 24, 2011 at 18:03
  • I know out-of-phase signals (like, say, reflected off of some surface nearby) can cause an effect kind of like this, but the sound in your link is far more drastic than I'm familiar with from that.
    – Warrior Bob
    Commented Nov 25, 2011 at 3:50
  • @JMCCreative - Have clarified your title to make it more accurate. (The old one was making me think of something else.)
    – Goodbye Stack Exchange
    Commented Nov 25, 2011 at 18:18
  • @WarriorBob : I thought you were on to something there, as the laptop was up against a sheetrock wall, and I was facing the wall playing the guitar. But alas, I tried it in the middle of the room and it was just as bad.
    – JMC Creative
    Commented Nov 26, 2011 at 3:38
  • What I chiefly hear in the SoundCloud link is severe lossy compression (possibly MP3). Does the "phasing effect" occur if you play back the audio immediately after recording it, or only after exporting and uploading to SoundCloud?
    – smokris
    Commented Nov 28, 2011 at 1:00

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
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So the problem is (drumroll) the crappy sound manager that came on the laptop. The RealTek software was defaulted to "filter out noise" from the microphone. It, of course, was doing a terrible job of it. I turned that off and all was well I got tons of extra noise from the un-isolated inner workings. But at least I know where all that sound is coming from.

Thanks all for your comments.

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